“I didn’t have any expectations when I entered,” she told the Times. “I did it mainly for the experience.

“Just before the awards I got a phone call from the organisers who wanted to make sure I was going down, so I assumed that meant something.

“It’s my first big entry and I was just really blown away.”

The awards, which consist of monetary prizes, were presented to 14 out of the 250 artists entered.

Despite being yet to take a single lesson, the gifted artist held her first solo show at Uxbridge, Howick’s creative centre, in April this year. She’s now working on 12 pieces for the next one, which she plans to unveil in New Zealand and her home country of Australia next year.

“This was the first child I’ve attempted to draw,” she says of Tepid Distortions.

“I will be doing more works that have a personal connection to me from now on, but this was more of a study. I always look at my drawings and despise them for a good month or so before I like them.

“I’m really happy with what I’ve achieved, as it hasn’t taken on its own life until it’s on paper.

“Getting the award and hearing people’s responses really justifies it. I didn’t go to art school or anything, so it’s the critiquing and responses that I really need as an artist.”

Tepid Distortions will soon be heading to Wellington for an event run by the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

The organisation invites its A-list clients every year in December to let them bid on new works by New Zealand artists.

The Taranaki Art Awards began in 2001 and are held each year at the Sandfords Events Centre, Tasman Street, Opunake on Taranaki’s Surf Highway 45. For more information about the awards phone Suzie Stanley on (06) 761-8879 or email
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.